Las Cruces High, Rio Rancho meet for Class 6A state football title

Las Cruces Quarterback Payton Ball, runs toward the goal line, scoring the bulldawgs, first touchdown of the 50th anniversary rivalry game between the two schools, Saturday November 5, 2016 at Field of Dreams.(Photo: Josh Bachman/Sun-News)Buy Photo

Damian Aguirre, heads the line of Las Cruces High School football players as they walked through a crowd of fellow students, teachers and parents that came out Friday, December 2, 2016, to Las Cruces High to send the team off to their state playoff game in Rio Rancho.(Photo: Josh Bachman/Sun-News)

LAS CRUCES – Las Cruces High’s offense has been very explosive during the 2016 season and it will need to be again on Saturday for the Bulldawgs to bring home its ninth Blue Trophy.

The Bulldawgs are averaging 38.7 points per game and have been balanced offensively, averaging 229.5 rushing yards and 199.4 passing yards per game. However, as LCHS faces Rio Rancho High for Class 6A state title on Saturday, the Bulldawgs run into one of the top defenses it will see this season in the Rams.

“They’re big and athletic and that’s the difference,” Las Cruces coach Mark Lopez said. “A lot of teams are one or the other and these guys are both. They’re a very mobile defense. They move around, they stunt a lot, do a lot of twists and a lot of things like that, that have presented problems for just about everybody. The best thing you could probably say about them is they’re not robotic in their stunts. They don’t just go to gaps and just put their head down. They kind of read on the run and do a great job of it. You can tell they’re a savvy group.”

Rio Rancho (12-0) is giving up just 11.5 points per game and has given up more than 14 points just three times this season (Manzano, 27; Cleveland, 28; Piedra Vista, 28).

“For us, it’s the same thing that we have to do (every week), just with the added responsibility of we have to recognize the stunts,” Lopez said. “We have to do a good job of picking up stunts and the twists. And, as always, we have to stay balanced. This may be the most important part of the season to stay balanced in. We can’t get hung up on just throwing or just running. We have to continue to stay balanced because I think that is going to be part of our approach.”

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The Las Cruces High School Varsity Football team gets settled in their bus, before driving to Rio Rancho, to play in the State Playoff game Saturday afternoon. The team left Las Cruces High school at nine a.m., Friday, December 2, 2016.(Photo: Josh Bachman/Sun-News)

Las Cruces has scored 37 or points or more in four of its last five games, including a 45-7 win over Rio Rancho Cleveland last week in the state semifinals. The Bulldawgs (11-1) have a veteran offensive line and junior quarterback Payton Ball has led LCHS by throwing for 2,299 yards, 23 touchdowns and just six interceptions while completing 73 percent of his passes. Ball is closing in on a 1,000 yard rushing season with 996 yards and 18 rushing touchdowns going into Saturday. Ivan Molina and Brandon Baeza have been key in the Bulldawg passing game as Molina, a sophomore, has 1,176 yards and eight touchdowns while Baeza, a junior, 854 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns this season.

LCHS is going for its third state title since 2012 and ninth in program history and Lopez looks to win a state in his first season as a head coach. If the Bulldawgs beat Rio Rancho on Saturday, Lopez would become the fourth different head coach to lead Las Cruces to a state title, joining Jim Miller, who won six state titles at LCHS, Rex Hennington and Rudy Camunez.

All-time, Las Cruces is 8-11 in state title games, but have won its last seven in state title games (2013, 2012, 2008, 2002, 2000, 1999, 1975).

Rio Rancho is making only its second state title appearance and is looking for its second state title in the past three years. If the Rams win Saturday, that would make it three years in a row a Rio Rancho Public Schools team has won the state title with Cleveland winning it last year.

The Rams have been a favorite since preseason to win a state title. But many feel if there was a team that could knock Rio Rancho off, it’s Las Cruces High.

“They (Rio Rancho) have some athletes on defense,” Baeza said. “They have a lot of speed and are big and strong. Like coach always says, it starts up front. If our offensive line makes key blocks for us, I think that’s really going to open up the run and it’s going to open up the passing game for us. We have faced a lot of good defenses. We’re just going to go and try and play smart football.”

Mark Rudi can be reached at 575-541-5455, mrudi@lcsun-news.com or on Twitter @mrudi19.